I Believe
I believe that God exists and that he is our saving grace and he sent Jesus to do that. I believe that the Celtics are better than the Lakers and will beat them in the finals next year. I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill J.F.K by him self he had at least one or two more people that helped him. I believe that Biggie Smalls is the greatest rapper of all time and that 2pac is not. I believe that I will become a D.I in the U.S.M.C. I believe that shuffling dillon.jpgtighter than jerking. I believe that through years and years of wars and violence there will finally be peace. I believe that the world will not end on Dec. 21 2012. I believe that there is not one but a handful of Bigfoot out in the northwest and I will be the first to catch one. I believe that with out friends and family life would not be worth living.


Tiger Mom

The book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom, as well as an article from “The Wall Street Journal” by Amy Chua caused a lot of controversy. American parents were outraged by that article, but in her book there is a lot more understanding that the article did not show. In this research paper I will see if Chua’s style is indeed better or worse that Americans style at the end I will explain how I feel.

Asians Tiger moms are a lot stricter than American parents but it apparently it works. There are also a lot of Asian Americans getting into upper universities on the contrast the tiger moms might go to far. For example “I would not let Lulu get up, not for water, not even to go to the bathroom room… out of the blue Lulu did it.” That clearly states that Tiger moms method works but that is board line abuse to not let Lulu go to the bathroom. They will also demand success even if it means hours and hours of tutoring.
Western Mom tend to be more relaxed and let there children choose what they want to do. They let there kids slack off more than tiger moms. ON the contrary they worry about there kids self-esteem that is not always good. “Western parents try to respect their children’s individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices. All in all, I feel that Western moms think they are doing what’s best for there kid.

In the Article, “Amy Chua Is a Wimp.” By David Brooks, David believes that Amy Chua is to easy on her children. David says that it is a lot more difficult dealing with your social life rather than getting into Yale. For example “I wish she recognized that in some important ways the school cafeterias more intellectually demanding then the library.” He believes that if Chua really wanted her children to learn how to succeed in life do you not only need to be a good student in the class room but also have great social skills.
In the article “In Defense of the Guilty, Ambivalent, Preoccupied Western Mom,” by Ayelet Waldman, she states that neither way of parenting is better. A great quote that express that is “Amy Chua and I both understand that our job as mothers is to be the type of tigress that each of our different cubs needs.” There is one big difference though Ayelet did not yell or fight her daughter for her to succeed but like I stated above neither one is better than the other, it all depends on the kid. Ayelet feels that it is better for the kid to succeed on there own without being forced.

In “Mother Inferior?” by Hanna Rosin she express that she could not be anything like Amy Chua. That could never be that “mean” or “strict.” A perfect quote form the article that represents that is “It’s more that I don’t have it in me. I just don’t have the demented drive to pull it off.”
In “An Asians Father’s Gift: permission to fail” by Llyon Woo, she states that her dad told her to fail so that she could be set free. In this article Ms. Woo is trying to tell kids to don’t worry to much, don’t have so much stress, relax a bit. A great quote is “and it’s with that failure when I stopped trying so hard and caring too much, that my grades began to soar. “ That is the point that she is trying to get across.
Amy Chua does love her kids enough to go to all those hours of tutoring and piano lessons. Obviously her style of parenting works when it comes to making prodigies and also math wises. On the flip side, Amy Chua might go a little too far. She did not let Lulu go to the bathroom that’s a little extreme.

Amy Chua’s book and article stirred up a lot of conflict. Is her way of parenting better than the “Western”. I don’t disagree nor do I agree, nether way is better than the other. In the end it is all up to the parent working with child.




Failure
In the passage from The Medusa and the Snail by Lewis Thomas he states that in order to learn you must fail. I do agree with this but not completely, because you can learn from success, on the contrary you should learn from your mistakes.

Dr. Alexander Fleming was the first person to find antibiotics. This was a complete accident, he found it because he was a complete slob, he did not clean his Petri Dish and mold grew in it. Next thing he knew the mold was killing all the staphylococcus. He did not find it on purpose he made a mistake by not cleaning his Petri Dishes he has saved millions and millions of lives.

I have failed in my favorite sport, soccer, and in doing so I have become a better player. For example I was playing forward which I usually don’t play last year for my team, and I got a break away but it was on the left side so I tried to use the outside of my right instead of using my left. The goalie made an easy save but, the next play there I was on the left side again. This time I learned that I should use my left and I did and scored. That is one example that backs that statement up.

My cousin seems that he can’t learn from his mistakes but that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t have. He gets caught with drugs and is stealing all the time and goes to jail for that. He seems that he could never learn from his mistakes but he should, because if he never does he is going to end in jail when he dies. My whole family doesn’t even let him in to our houses now he just can’t be trusted.

I realize that not everyone learns from their mistakes but they should, because if they did this world would be a better place. So yes I agree with Lewis Thomas that you should learn from your mistakes. I disagree with him in the fact that that is the only way to learn.

Cheating
Christine Pelton quit her job as a teacher because the school board told her to go easy on the kids. I feel that the school board did the wrong thing. I will explain my opinion throughout this essay.

Are kids getting let off to easily when they plagiarize? Yes I believe so, plagiarism is stealing and cheating it is just as bad if not worse than going into a liquor store and stealing some candy bars or chips, or even going into some ones home and stealing their TV. Those are examples of stealing and so is plagiarism it is not stealing material things but stealing someone’s thoughts and words.
This is a part of our country where we are messing up. We are letting kids off way to easy for cheating and stealing if kids don’t learn that it is wrong to do so. Than we are just going to have more and more big business scandals that rip people off for their money, through stealing and cheating.

All in all, our society needs to wake up and stop being so soft on our kids. So yes the school board did the wrong thing and those kids should have failed.









30 By 30
  1. Catch Bigfoot
  2. Go to a World Cup Game
  3. Graduate High School
  4. Meet K.G
  5. Join the Marines
  6. Become a D.I in the Marines
  7. Meet Will Smith
  8. Meet Eminem
  9. Meet Dr. Dre
  10. Catch a Great White Shark
  11. Go to brazil
  12. Make it in to the UFC
  13. Have the fastest K.O in the UFC
  14. Survive 2012
  15. Sky dive
  16. Bunge jump
  17. Find a cure for AIDS
  18. Find a sure for Cancer
  19. Finish this list
  20. Learn how to play the drums
  21. Become the richest man in the world
  22. Have at least one world record in the Gunnies World Record Book
  23. Be married?
  24. Create an edible pen
  25. See the White House
  26. See Statue of Liberty
  27. Get a job
  28. Win the lotto
  29. Go to Tokyo
  30. Drift a car
  31. Turn 30